Imbi Paju and Sofi Oksanen A new essay collection – Fear Was Behind Everything: How Estonia Lost its History and How to Get it Back

23.03.2009
Estonia is the subject matter of Fear Was Behind Everything, a new collection of essays edited by Sofi Oksanen and Imbi Paju. Estonia’s recent history has been defined by two occupations: The short occupation by Nazi Germany and the half-century-long occupation by the Soviet Union. Only during the last 20 years has Estonia had the opportunity to study its history using its own voice, without any ideological baggage.

The collection’s subject matter is not limited to Estonia, however, but encompasses the means of oppression employed by a totalitarian state in general. The essay collection examines the Soviet occupation from many different perspectives: propaganda, the operation of the machinery of oppression, culture, art, environmental destruction, corruption and economic development. The essays also examine the post-occupation period, i.e.

Estonia is the subject matter of Fear Was Behind Everything, a new collection of essays edited by Sofi Oksanen and Imbi Paju. Estonia’s recent history has been defined by two occupations: The short occupation by Nazi Germany and the half-century-long occupation by the Soviet Union. Only during the last 20 years has Estonia had the opportunity to study its history using its own voice, without any ideological baggage.

The collection’s subject matter is not limited to Estonia, however, but encompasses the means of oppression employed by a totalitarian state in general. The essay collection examines the Soviet occupation from many different perspectives: propaganda, the operation of the machinery of oppression, culture, art, environmental destruction, corruption and economic development. The essays also examine the post-occupation period, i.e. the decolonisation process, and make observations, for example, on how Estonia, Russia and Germany have dealt with crimes against human rights in recent history.

The experiences of the Gulag are a unifying factor for many nations that were victims of Soviet oppression. During their years of operation, as many as 20 million people – many of whom were political prisoners and dissidents – spent time in the camps located throughout the Soviet Union. The authors include Anne Applebaum, an American journalist who won a Pulitzer Prize for her book on the Gulag and Jehanne M Gheith, an American researcher of the Gulag who has interviewed Russian Gulag veterans.

Fear Was Behind Everything includes articles by more than 30 writers. The authors include Finnish, Estonian, Russian, British and American writers, such as Professor Tauno Tiusanen, writer and journalist Jukka Rislakki, Russian/Estonian poet Igor Kotjuh, the Russian writer and Soviet-era dissident Vladimir Bukovski, Toomas Hiio who served as the secretary general of Estonia’s history commission, Estonian President Toomas Hendrik Ilves and the Estonian researcher Terje Anepaio.

The essay collection will be published on the 60th anniversary of the forced deportations carried out in Estonia on 25 March 1949. Forced deportations are included in the UN definition of genocide. After the end of World War II, there has been an extensive public debate on the crimes of the other major source of oppression in the 20th century, Nazi Germany. But the actions of the Soviet Union are much less known. Fear Was Behind Everything takes up this debate and enriches it with new perspectives.

“This brick of a book edited by Sofi Oksanen and Imbi Paju is fearless stuff. It is an impressive and horrifying read, unfolding the entire spectrum of Soviet control over the Estonian people. There is no denying that it is an interesting and important work. It shows us what really happened to our neighbors, our brothers.” Seppo Paajanen, Etelä-Saimaa (Finland)
The editors of the book

Sofi Oksanen (born 1977) is a Finnish writer who won the Finlandia literary prize in 2008 for her novel Puhdistus [Purification].

Imbi Paju (born 1959) is an Estonian director, writer and journalist who lives in Helsinki. Paju has described Estonia’s period of occupation in his film and book of the same title Torjutut muistot [Memories Denied].Linkidid:
Eesti keeles:http://www.sirp.ee/index.php?
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